


Until You Don’t Know

by aokayinspace



Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: Drag Queens, M/M, Parades, Purim, Travel, copious amounts of drinking, takes place in and around tel aviv
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-08
Updated: 2020-03-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:15:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22991569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aokayinspace/pseuds/aokayinspace
Summary: David and Patrick take a trip to Israel only for David to realize when they get there it is Purim so they throw together some last minute plans to celebrate the holiday.
Relationships: Patrick Brewer/David Rose
Comments: 3
Kudos: 18





	Until You Don’t Know

**Author's Note:**

> So this fic is very self indulgent, there isn't even all that much plot. It's just a ton of ideas I had for d+p celebrating purim in Israel based on my own experiences I word vomitted into a google doc. I did my best to explain things about Purim through exposition by having this mostly be from Patrick's POV so hopefully any readers out there who are unfamiliar aren't too lost.
> 
> The title come from the tradition during Purim that you are supposed to get so drunk that you can no longer tell the different between Haman (the bad guy) and Mordechai (the good guy). Also the name of the parade held in the Tel Aviv area for Purim is called Adloyada which translates to mean “until you don’t know” in English.
> 
> Chag Purim Sameach!

“Patrick!” David shouted excitedly from where he was seated on the hotel bed. Patrick poked his head out from the bathroom, unsure what could have possibly excited David this much from inside their hotel room they’d literally only just checked into ten minutes prior. “Patrick, it’s Purim!”

“Hmm?” Patrick hummed in question as David got up from the bed and started going through their bags while still talking about things that weren’t making sense to Patrick.

“I didn’t realize! We need costumes. Why didn’t we pack any costumes? Oh my god we need to go shopping like yesterday.”

“David. Slow down. I’m lost. What’s Purim?”

“Oh. It’s a Jewish holiday. Actually it’s probably my favorite Jewish holiday. I know I don’t actually celebrate anything other than the occasional lighting of the menorah during Chanukkah with my family, but we’re here, in Israel, so…” he just shrugged as an ending to that sentence. 

“Okay. So you want to like go to synagogue or something? And wait you said something about costumes?”

“Yes! I mean no to synagogue. Well maybe we can go to a Megillah reading, they can be fun. But Purim is more about dressing up and drinking and celebrating. It’s basically like Jewish Halloween but better and with a better story.” Patrick still didn’t look like he was quite catching on so David continued in his best attempt to explain the holiday. “So basically like many Jewish holidays we celebrate that someone who wanted to wipe out the Jewish people was unsuccessful. In this case it was all thanks to Queen Esther who basically became queen in attempt to infiltrate the palace and save her people, which she did by throwing this lavish masquerade party and got this guy Haman drunk so he would reveal his plans and everyone would know he was the bad guy so basically every year we celebrate by dressing up in costumes and partying and getting so drunk you can no longer distinguish the difference between the good people and the bad people.”

“Really?” David nodded in response. “That sounds like fun! Why have I never heard of this holiday before?”

“Probably because it isn’t one that permeated into North American culture because there isn’t really a good Christian parallel, unless you count Halloween, which is actually pagan, and the fact that Halloween is in October and Purim is in the Spring so they’d never overlap.”

“Mhmm,” Patrick hummed, only now giving David part of his attention while he was scrolling through something on his phone. David peaked over his shoulder to see he was scrolling through the Wikipedia page for Purim. 

“Are you fact checking me?” David asked aghast. 

“No,” Patrick replied sheepishly, embarrassed for being caught. “I just want to learn more so I can fully understand and while that was a beautiful explanation--“ 

“Thank you,” David cut in preening a little. 

“--I just wanted to do a bit more research.”

“Fine, but at least use like MyJewishLearning or ReformJudaism.org something. Not Wikipedia.”

* * *

After some thorough research, Patrick on the history and traditions of Purim, and David on the hottest parties and best places to shop for costumes, David and Patrick set out for a day of shopping. It was Sunday so they only had the one day to prepare since Purim started Monday evening. 

David had initially thought maybe they’d take the train to Jerusalem for the first night of Purim since it’s the holy city after all, but quickly changed his mind when he started finding LGBT Purim parties in Tel Aviv. There was a reason when they were planning this trip, David chose Tel Aviv as their hub—it’s central and very queer friendly. Tuesday, they’d take the bus to Holon to watch the Purim parade, also known as Adloyada. 

With plans for two days of activities, they needed two costumes each, and possibly a back up one because you can never be too prepared. David already had plans for one costume, the others, well, they’ll see what they find. 

* * *

“David, why are we in a wig store,” Patrick asked as they walked into the first stop David had navigated then to. 

“Because we are going to be dressing as the Purim _Queens_ Vashti and Esther,” David emphasized the word queens and Patrick eventually realized he meant queens not only in the sense both women were royalty but also that his plan was for them to dress up as drag queens.

“We’re what?” Patrick’s reaction maybe came off a little more horrified than he meant it. He’d never worn drag before--not real drag anyway--just the occasional dumb teenage boy dares of raiding their mothers closets as jokes. 

“It’s tradition,” David replied, and Patrick knew he was new to this holiday but no where in his research did dressing in drag come up under tradition...though there was something about dressing up as the heroes of the story in his research. “Okay so maybe it’s not real tradition, but back when my parents still insisted Alexis and I go to Hebrew school, we’d always dress up as Queen Vashti and Queen Esther and wear our mom’s clothes. She even had a few wigs she’d let us pick from we could wear. It was actually more common than you’d probably think to see little Jewish boys dressing up as Esther for Purim. So I just thought it’d be fun to put an actual drag spin on it.” David could sense Patrick’s apprehension, so he added “Look, if you’re not comfortable with it, we can do something else. Maybe I should have asked first.”

“No, it’s okay,” Patrick replied. “We can do it. I can do it. I was just maybe a little shocked.”

“You sure?”

“Yes.”

* * *

They spent most of the day putting together pieces for their drag Vashti and Esther costumes that by the time they were done they didn’t have much time to figure out their second costumes for the parade on Tuesday. Patrick ended up buying a Maccabi Tel Aviv jersey to just go as a generic ball player and David bought a crown he was just going to wear with his normal clothes and be “King David”. They picked up burgers on their way back to the hotel and spent the night in so David could work on perfecting their drag make up in a trial run before tomorrow. 

Patrick was sitting in a chair as David carefully painted his face. He’d been quiet, letting David work, but as David turned to swap brushes, he asked the question that’d had been on his mind, “Have you ever done this before?”

“The makeup, or the drag?”

“Both,” Patrick said. He meant the drag but now he was curious about both. 

“Yes on both counts. Makeup is just another form of art expression. Especially drag makeup. When I first moved to New York, I had befriended a queen and sort of became her personal makeup artist. Occasionally she’d even get me to join her on stage. But performing was never something I particularly loved.”

“Did you have a name?”

“Mhmm. My drag name was Michal.”

“Michal.” Patrick repeated, feeling the name out on his tongue. It didn’t strike him as very David though. “Is there a meaning behind that name?”

“Sort of. Michal was the first wife of King David. The first time I was talked into performing, I needed to come up with a stage name—a drag name—and that was the first thing to come to mind, then it just stuck.” Patrick was giving David one of those looks of his. The ones that say “I can’t believe you’re real”. “What?” David asked, when Patrick’s eyes became too loud he had to break the silence. 

“You just continue to surprise me David Rose.”

“Hmm well I don’t think it’s really all that surprising to learn I had a brief stint as a drag queen.”

“No. Not that. I guess I’m just learning how much being Jewish is a part of you. I mean it’s not like I didn’t know before, but it’s not something you really talk about other than the occasional offhanded comment. I guess it’s just that since you’re not religious I didn’t realize how much you really know about that side of your heritage. I didn’t even know you spoke Hebrew before today.”

“Okay first of all, I don’t speak Hebrew, I’ve just picked up a few phrases. The lady who taught me how to ask for a menu in English was a lifesaver that summer I stayed to travel on my own after my birthright trip. And second, just because I’m only culturally Jewish and really only half, doesn’t mean I can’t have an appreciation for my heritage. I’m sure you know plenty about Christianity.”

“Actually my family is Catholic, and no I really don’t. Sports always interfered with Sunday school and my parents never pushed it on me so beyond attending church for Christmas and Easter I can’t say I know all that much. I don’t even think I could name all the disciples and you just told me to choose your drag name based on a biblical character.”

“Okay well I really don’t know all that much. Like I’ve never actually studied torah or anything, but yes, maybe I have always felt a connection to my Jewish side and have made efforts in the past to stay connected to it. This trip for example. Now hush I have to finish your lips now so no more talking.”

* * *

Once David finished up Patrick’s make up, he then also put on the wig and arranged it until he was satisfied before letting Patrick look in the mirror. Patrick had a hard time reading the exact look on David’s face but he could tell he was amused and happy with his work. 

“You ready?” David asked before the reveal with a little shimmy of his shoulders that only came out when he was really excited about something. Patrick wasn’t sure what to expect, but yes he was ready. He went to nod which felt weird because of the weight of the wig he had forgotten was on his head. 

When Patrick saw the face in the mirror, he could not comprehend that was himself. David had completely transformed him. There wasn’t too much color, which Patrick appreciated, because he’s seen some of the looks on Drag Race, but his eyes were lined with dark shadow, his lashes were longer from the false lashes David applied, his eyebrows arched and actually prominent, and his lips were a deeper shade of pink. He donned a red curly wig, which David said made him look like Bernadette Peters. 

“So?” David questioned when Patrick had been quiet for too long taking in his reflection. 

“I like it?” He didn’t mean for it to come off as a question, but it did. 

“You sure? Because I can tone it down if you want. I know it’s a lot. I got a bit carried away.”

“No. I mean yeah it is a lot. But I do think I like it. It’s just weird seeing my face like this. I don’t even recognize the person in the mirror.”

“Well I think you look _really_ good.” The way David stressed “really” warmed Patrick to the core, and gave him just that extra bit of confidence to own this new look. 

“So your turn now?”

“Oh no. I don’t need to practice my look. You’ll see it tomorrow.”

* * *

Patrick was sitting on the bed flipping through the channels on tv. David had already done his make up but he was waiting to finish putting on his costume since he had no idea how long David was going to be locked away in the bathroom. An average day David could be in there for an hour, and doing his makeup for a drag costume was not an average day. Patrick found Friends reruns on in English so he settled on that and sat back killing time. 

David emerged from the bathroom a while later fully dressed in his costume. He was wearing a long silver dress made out of some shiny material that made him sparkle. The sleeves were long, with material connecting them to the body of the dress so if he held his arms out he looked like a sugar glider. He wore a long deep blue wig that had pigtails on the side and almost made him look like an anime character. His makeup was much more daring than what he did on Patrick. For one, his eyeshadow was shades of blues and silver to match his outfit that really made his eyes pop. Patrick knew he was staring, but he couldn’t yet find words to express what was running through his head. 

“So?” David prompted when the silence stretched out too long. He was still standing hesitantly in the doorway to the bathroom. 

“You look amazing!” Patrick said, getting up from the bed and walking toward David. Then because he was feeling too much and had to cut the tension with something lighter he teased, “look a bit like your mother.”

“Okay, please never say that again,” David scolded lightly, “but yes I do believe my mother owns a dress like this now that you mention it.”

Patrick laughed as he wrapped his hands around David’s waist and kissed him lightly on the cheek. “You do look amazing.” David couldn’t help but preen. “Now help me with the rest of my costume.”

The rest of Patrick’s costume was a low cut green sequin dress with a gold bustier under and gold ankle boots to match. Since Patrick’s dress was short—hits just above his knees— David really wanted to find him some thigh highs to wear but unfortunately his tree trunk thighs would not fit into anything they found so they settled for an ankle boot that was both comfortable and stylish. Once Patrick was dressed, they were ready to head out. 

The first stop of the evening was the Megillah reading. In David’s research he had found an open to the community reading at the LGBT Center in Tel Aviv. When they got there, they were each handed a little gift basket l—“mishloach manot”, David whispered to Patrick. “It’s traditional to give gift baskets to others on Purim. Usually with food in the.”—Inside their gift baskets were some hamantachens and a noise maker. 

“What’s this for?” Patrick asked, spinning the noise maker so it made noise. 

“You’ll see,” David replied. 

While Patrick could not understand what was being read, since it was in Hebrew, he did catch on quickly to what was going on. It helped that he did his research and already read a summary of the story of Purim so he knew an overview of what was being read. David even showed him what “Haman” looked like in Hebrew so he could kind of try to follow along with the text and be ready to shake his grogger because he discovered the purpose of the noisemakers was to make so much noise every time Haman was mentioned to drown out his name. It was the most fun Patrick had ever had at some kind of holiday service. He was beginning to understand why David liked this holiday so much.

After the reading, everyone was invited to stay for some snacks. Patrick tried his first hamataschen, then his second, third, and fourth as he sampled all the different flavors. 

From there, they headed over to the Purim party at Shpagat, a local gay bar in Tel Aviv. The night was filled with drinks, dancing, and an all around good time. David even entered them into the costume contest as the “Purim Queens” and they won. True to the nature of the holiday, they stumbled back to their hotel at some ungodly hour of the early morning very drunk. 

* * *

Choosing simple costumes for the daytime Purim activities ended up being a smart call as both David and Patrick were too hungover from the previous night’s celebrations to function at full capacity. 

They slept in as much as they could since they didn’t even get to bed until the sun was nearly rising so David did a modified version of his morning routine, thankfully had already picked out which sweater he was going to wear—a simple black Neil Barrett sweater with a chain across the neck hanging like a necklace. Then he put on the crown, careful not to mess up his hair. Patrick wore his new blue and yellow Maccabi Tel Aviv jersey and his regular jeans. 

It was a short bus ride to Holon for Adloyada, and didn’t take long to follow the crowd of people lining up along the street to watch the parade. They found an empty section against the barricade and waited for the parade to start. 

“I’ll be right back,” David said, once they were settled in their spot. “I’m just going to go grab some snacks. And maybe some more caffeine.”

Patrick held their spot as David wandered off. He returned a few minutes later with two drinks in hand and a bag of snacks. 

“One ice Aroma for you, and one for me.” David handed Patrick one of the frozen drinks that looked like a frappuccino. Patrick took a sip and it was much better than he was expecting seeing as he wasn’t the biggest fan of coffee in the first place. 

David then broke into the snacks he bought and handed Patrick a piece of chocolate.

“Here, try this.”

Patrick put the little square of chocolate into this mouth and was surprised to find it crunched. Then suddenly his mouth was popping as if he had just eaten pop rocks. 

“David, what did you just give me? Why is my mouth popping?” He could hear the crackles in his ear from whatever was in the chocolate bar. 

“It’s pop rocks chocolate. The best of the cow chocolate.”

“A little warning would have been nice. I was not expecting that!” Now that the initial shock had worn off, Patrick had to admit it was good chocolate. “But maybe I’ll have another piece?” David laughed and handed him another square he broke off from the bar. 

The parade was interesting to watch. Adloyada was supposed to be humorous after all. It was a mix of Jewish related floats as well as regular community groups. At one point there was a giant float of the face of David Ben Gurion that opened to reveal dancers inside that was kind of terrifying. There were acrobatic routines, children’s marching bands and choirs, and a selection of random floats one would expect to see in something like the Macy’s Day Parade in New York City. 

After the parade, they made their way back to Tel Aviv and spent the rest of the day relaxing on the beach. It had been a fun few days to their trip so far, but there was still so much they wanted to do and see before they had to head back home.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on twitter: @allonsyarielle
> 
> I went through a lot of my old Purim photos to write this fic so anything described in detail is pretty much from my own experience of the two Purims I've celebrated in Israel. It was a lot of fun for me to reflect on those times because details were coming back to me I forgot about (I was in Israel for Purim in 2008 and 2009). And while the drag looks I came up from my own head (and yes the wig David is wearing is the blue anime wig Dan has talked about and his dress is inspired by the Moira dress from the s5 promos), I used to dress my brother up as Esther for the school Purim carnival every year so while idk if it really is a tradition elsewhere, it very much was common at my elementary school.
> 
> And because it's not mentioned in the fic, the burgers d+p are eating are from Moses Burger. It's probably been 12 years since I've eaten there but I still think about it. I was remembering so many restaurants I used to go to when I was living outside tel aviv I couldn't fit in them all but I had to at least include a nod to one.


End file.
